Ganesha Chaturthi: Myth behind not seeing the moon on first-day

Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the biggest festivals in India. As per Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesha is worshipped before starting any major activity to ensure success and fruitful results.

Lord Ganesha is a symbol of fortune, knowledge, prosperity, and wisdom.

This year, Ganesh Chaturthi falls on September 13 and extends for ten days, ending on September 23.

Today is the first day of the festival, we are not supposed to look at the moon in the sky on this special day. Have you ever thought why?

There is a very interesting story behind this

Lord Ganesha is a symbol of fortune, knowledge, prosperity, and wisdom.

The Moon God (Chandra) was very handsome, he was always proud of his looks. He was so beautiful that people used to compare his beautiful face with the glowing moon.

Once day Lord Ganesha's devotee offered him lots of sweets. Lord Ganesha was so pleased that he ate most of the sweets and at night when he was walking back home, he stumbled and fell down, and hoped no one had seen him.

But unfortunately, Moon God had seen everything, he laughed hard and commented upon the belly and the elephant head of Lord Ganesha.

Ganesha become angry and thought Moon should be punished in order to make him humble and polite. Ganesha cursed him saying that nobody will look at him or praise him from that day. And if anyone looks at the Moon, they will face the repercussions.

Moon God's arrogance and rudeness vanished in a moment after hearing this. All other Gods got worried and started worshipping Lord Ganesha to appease him again and apologized.

In the end, Lord Ganesha was pleased and he relieved Moon God from the curse but with a clause that on that particular day in the year (Bhadrapada Chaturthi' i.e Ganesha Chaturthi). If anybody sees Moon on that day, they may face false allegations and may lose the peace.

This was a mythological story. Let's learn about it from a scientific perspective

Ganesha Chaturthi, which falls in Bhadrapada the month of August/September

Why should we not look at the moon in the sky on this special day?

Ganesha Chaturthi, which falls in Bhadrapada the month of August/September, and this day is the fourth day of a lunar month -- which is celebrated as full moon day.

As per research, the sun, the moon and the earth get in such angles on this day that the moonlight which falls on earth is negatively charged.This is the reason why we should not look at the moon or get exposed to moonlight!

But in those days it was not easy to let people understand scientific reasons behind many traditions.

It is also said that even on 3rd and 5th days (a day before and after) we should not see the moon.